Cool Life Hacks using Simple Technology Hacks

Cool life hacks – When it comes to being productive, everyone seems to rehash the same items over and over again. These are usually some form of the following:

Talking about some or other to-do list application

Monitoring the time you spend using specific apps or visiting specific websites

Shortcuts to use in a particular OS (think macOS)

Just have a look at the plethora of “productivity” tips on YouTube regarding your Mac or iPhone or Android device. Now don’t get me wrong. I do believe that these productivity tips have their place in a person’s day-to-day workflow. I also believe that true productivity lies in doing as little as possible, but achieving better results. For me, these everyday life hacks are summed up in a single word; automation.

Cool Life Hacks borne from Technology Hacks

Life hacks to make your life easier – Automation is at the heart of productivity. Having the task complete itself with little intervention from your side, is what makes a person productive. So what do I mean by automation? With the proliferation of services such as IFTTT and Zapier, users have been given the power to automate their life to do time consuming and mundane tasks. You are probably also familiar with the popular lifehacker website too. Clearly there is a drive to automate people’s lives. So let’s have a look at three cool life hacks using the technology available to us.

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Cool Life Hacks # 1 – Automate Email

Life hacks for everyday problems – It is a fact, email is a productivity black hole. It sucks you in and doesn’t let you go. I have heard many people tell me that they have spent the majority of a morning answering emails. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t convey the message in a few short sentences then you need a face-to-face meeting.

Another thing to consider is that you will also have personal emails to take care of. I separate my work and personal emails. It unfortunately does not make managing them any easier. So let’s start off by looking how to automate Outlook.com emails.

Cool Life Hacks #2 – Automate Trello

Life hacks you should know – Sometimes mundane work tasks can be made much easier. In fact, you can even add additional tasks to a mundane task when using automation. In the second cool life hacks example I will create a new work item in DevOps when a Trello list is updated. I will also go one step further and add this item to my personal Wunderlist to-do list. This is a great example of extending the reach of a mundane task and making you even more productive.

Dirk is a Software Developer and Microsoft MVP from South Africa. He loves all things Technology and is slightly addicted to Twitter and Jimi Hendrix. Apart from writing code, he also enjoys writing human readable articles. "I love sharing knowledge and connecting with people from around the world. It's the diversity that makes life so beautiful." Dirk feels very strongly that pizza is simply not complete without Tabasco, that you can never have too much garlic, and that cooking the perfect steak is an art he has yet to master.